Scheer’s Judgment on Class-Action Lawsuits

In his column, “Of, by and for Big Business” (Commentary, Feb. 22), most of what Robert Scheer says about this administration is accurate, but don’t blame the Republicans. The Republicans are just serving their constituency. It would be nice if the Democrats served their constituency as well. None of these bills could become law if the Democrats were actually an opposition party. They have enough votes in the Senate to prevent any bill from becoming law -- but they usually don’t.

People seem to forget it was a Democratic Senate that confirmed Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court, and it was a Democratic president who brought us the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization and welfare reform. With Democrats like those, “Big Business” doesn’t need Republicans.

What this country needs is an opposition party that opposes. Ralph Nader’s claim that, on the important issues, there is little difference between the two parties was accurate.

Sanford Thier

Marina del Rey

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Scheer continues his tirade against Big Business, failing to note that Big Business supports most small businesses and that all businesses are what make the average “little guy” in America the wealthiest in the world, including during retirement.

Scheer laments the fact that now certain class-action lawsuits (usually involving interstate actions between the aggriever and the aggrieved) actually need to be brought at the federal level and (as he conveniently ignores) rarely benefit the “little guy,” but almost always benefit the lawyers. If I were to draw conclusions as he does about Republicans, I would say that Scheer is a socialist who is in the pocket of trial lawyers.

Mel Wolf

Burbank

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Scheer has it right: The Republican Party’s “once-sacred” respect for states’ rights has eroded on President Bush’s watch. Add class-action lawsuits to the long list of issues that Republicans believe the states are too incompetent to resolve on their own. Bush’s policies on education, the environment, assisted suicide, medical marijuana and gay marriage reveal his administration’s disdain for discretion at the state level. What’s worse than his continual insistence on federal intervention, though, are the tactics he uses: threats from the Justice Department, attempts to amend the Constitution and Supreme Court cronyism.

I guess Bush’s stance on states’ rights must have flip-flopped for good when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned those pesky Florida justices five years ago.

John Slavin

Venice